ACCA awards Standard Chartered Bank with global accreditation

Global 21 Jan 2013

Related Links

ACCA greatly values the opportunities Standard Chartered provides to ACCA students and members worldwide to gain an internationally recognised qualification and to pursue varied and rewarding careers

—Helen Brand, chief executive,ACCA

Standard Chartered Bank joins a distinguished group of organisations that have achieved global accreditation for the support it provides to employees worldwide who choose to train to become ACCA members

ACCA has confirmed that Standard Chartered has met the quality criteria for the award of global Approved Employer (Trainee Development – Gold) status. This means that all Standard Chartered finance and accounting employees who are registered as students with ACCA will receive valuable support to help them successfully complete the ACCA examinations and gain practical experience that enables them to acquire the range of competencies required of finance and accounting professionals in business today.

Helen Brand, chief executive of ACCA says: 'ACCA greatly values the opportunities Standard Chartered provides to ACCA students and members worldwide to gain an internationally recognised qualification and to pursue varied and rewarding careers.'

Approved Employer status is underpinned by a proactive working relationship between ACCA and the bank at the global, regional and local levels. Support is provided to the bank and its trainees by ACCA through its extensive network of offices and dedicated business relationship managers. ACCA works with the bank in a number of areas, including: presentations and workshops for trainees; continuing professional development, networking and other events for finance professionals; and support to help Learning and Development personnel monitor and manage performance.

Julian Fong, Chief Financial Officer Asia and Global Head, Country Finance, Standard Chartered Bank, adds: 'More than ever, finance professionals have a critical role to play in protecting and creating value for the Bank, through partnering with the business to provide information and in maintaining a robust controls environment. This ACCA distinction provides our team members with professional learning and development opportunities that support this key objective.'

Both ACCA and Standard Chartered share a similar geographic footprint with offices across Africa, The Middle East and Asia, and their interests extend to a number of areas important to both organisations including a focus on developing diverse, international workforces and on nurturing business growth especially in developing markets. These synergies make ACCA a natural finance learning partner for the bank.

Helen Brand concludes: 'Professional training and development is just one important element of ACCA’s relationship with Standard Chartered. We are also excited by the opportunities to collaborate on a wide range of issues such as the support for enhancing the role of women within business and the profession, and on improving access to finance and expertise for fast-growing businesses.'

Key facts for the media

ACCA has 8,500 organisations worldwide that are ACCA Approved Employers.

The Approved Employer programme provides an overall framework within which ACCA supports an organisation’s trainees and members. We do this by:

providing formal recognition that an organisation is committed to providing learning and development opportunities to its finance staff – which will enhance the organisation’s reputation as an employer

setting an accessible global standard which enables organisations to compare their learning and development support against a global benchmark, enhancing their brands

providing fast-track specific ACCA business processes –trainees and/or members can benefit depending on which approval stream is awarded

helping bring talented people into their organisations.

giving access to publications and resources addressing staff recruitment, retention and development, as well as access to hot topic events.

The ACCA Approved Employer programme has three streams:

Trainee development – recognition of in-house training and to simplify the membership application process for ACCA trainees.

Professional development – support for the continuing professional development (CPD) of qualified finance professionals.